Major Enaal Ranakke
Enaal Ranakke Enaal Ranakke was an Indissian soldier who was almost solely responsible for defending the Afghan Front against British India in WW1 during the Russian Campaign, when most of the Imperial forces were busy dealing with Russia. He is considered a national hero of Indissia. He gained two nicknames, "Caneros Cavari" (or "Plucky Major"), which he is more commonly referred to as by Nesarians, and "Immovable Object", which he is more commonly referred to as by Indissians. He was posthumously awarded the Flaming Sword a week after his death in 1917. Ranakke was born to a middle-class family, brought up to be a lawyer like his father. In his early years he was obsessed with politics, writing several works on socialism and joining the Indissian Socialist Movement. However, he quickly became disillusioned by their radical Marxist beliefs, especially disagreeing with their staunchly anti-monarchist, anti-nationalist and socially liberal stance, and left after two months. He joined the Imperial Army at the outbreak of WW1, and was sent to the Afghan Front to hold the line against the British until Russia had been defeated. He was one of the few Indissians sent to that front - most of the soldiers there, and nearly all of the soldiers he would later gain under his command, were Nesarian. He quickly distinguished himself, rising very rapidly through the ranks to Major (this was partly due to the fact that most of the officers were dying as well as Ranakke's skill). Although he was officially a Major, Ranakke usually commanded far greater numbers of troops than he should have (when offered promotion later on, he refused, as he wanted to keep his reputation as the "Cavari Canosae"). Leading approximately 100,000 soldiers, he stopped the British Indian army - which was well over a million strong - making any gains at all in Afghanistan. He was considered a master at defensive military strategy, and many historians also consider him to be one of the very few WW1 generals who truly understood how to effectively use the modern technology. Once Russia was defeated in 1916, the bulk of the Nesarian army made their way to the Afghan Front, and the offensive campaign against British India began. Ranakke was also considered a key player in this operation, leading the push through Pakistan - however, the disastrous Battle of Bahawalpur in 1917 brought the Nesarian advance to a screeching halt. The main army began the Nesarian Death March while Ranakke was ordered to cover the retreat and once again hold the line against the British. This campaign claimed his life and the lives of most of his soldiers. Ranakke is hailed as a hero by the Indissians for his genius and bravery, however he is often criticised for his socialist beliefs and lack of faith. Ranakke opened up about his mental state in his private diaries, and they reveal that he was deeply unhappy with the amount of people he was sending to their deaths, giving him severe depression which resulted in two suicide attempts. This is presumably the reasoning behind the fairly famous event in 1916 when a Nesarian soldier, "drunk on fury", killed three British Indian prisoners of war and Ranakke immediately leapt on the Nesarian, beating the man into unconsciousness and nearly to death with his bare hands. Quotes "The worker, not the elite, is the source of a country's power - so it should be the worker and not the elite that has power over the country." (In one of his essays on socialism. "Elite" is also sometimes translated as "bourgeoisie") "I have widowed a hundred thousand wives, left a hundred thousand families without a father, caused a hundred thousand funerals and created a million weeping mourners. I am no hero." (When being hailed as a hero for killing approx. 100,000 of the enemy and taking barely a tenth of those losses himself) "I have killed a hundred thousand men. I am no hero." (An often-paraphrased version of the above quote)